Quarantine part 2 + the end of residency

Looking back on my last post, I think I definitely would have been surprised to know that we'd still be under quarantine by June! Honestly, it has been pretty nice most of the time, mostly because Ricardo's busy-ness has dropped down a ton. He's been working from home but his schedule is much more relaxed than his usual 10 hour days. It's been nice to have him around to hang out with, kind of like pre-residency times! We're grateful that I've still been able to work and otherwise, have just been enjoying lots of fun family time together, which has definitely been a silver lining during this crazy time. Enjoy my random collection of photos from the past few months:

Caroline thinks that she looks so cool in her sunglasses:

And her superhero outfit..

We had a great Easter weekend. The kids enjoyed a fun Easter egg hunt in the backyard.

Caroline stopped after each egg to enjoy the candy.

Enjoying peeps from the Easter bunny. 

Easter egg dying with Pinky-before Ricardo graduated from the splint.

Thomas loves to cook and bake, he's my best little helper.

Caroline likes to help too but is less predictable, she's always trying to add random ingredients that she finds.

One time I was at work and Ricardo texted me this photo. Caroline was unattended (for just a few minutes he says!) and got out the blender and some spices and tried to make her own concoction. Unfortunately, lots of spices wasted by this little troublemaker.

But she's so cute, so you have to love her despite her mischief.

Caroline in her first princess dress:

Ricardo made me a delicious white chocolate cheesecake for Mother's Day, as is his tradition. So good!

So lucky to be mom to these great kids!

Thomas loves triceratopses (is that the right plural?). We worked on a little costume one day.

Just woke up from her nap. She loves this little sheep which I find so endearing because my boys weren't really attached to a stuffed animal at her age. She sleeps with it for every nap and bedtime and her brothers argue about finding it for her at bedtime because they love to make her happy.

We have enjoyed a multitude of hikes and have enjoyed exploring new places! The kids have done great.

We have also enjoyed our tiny backyard pool on some warm days!

Caroline trying to surf like Russell:

All the kids have been playing so well together lately. So rewarding to see their love for each other.

Their fun box fort/hang out spot in the garage:

We have also enjoyed church at home every Sunday. It will definitely be weird whenever we go back to have to occupy them for a whole church meeting. Our home church is a lot shorter than the regular church :) . Before we teach them the lesson for the week, the kids love to stand on the coffee table to lead the music or to give "talks." Thomas is usually pretty wordy with his talks and says lots of cute things.

Thomas getting some air on "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam."

Thomas reading the car manual. My kids love playing in the car and pretending to drive, etc. Not a bad way to occupy them when we're working on something outside.

We've also spent much of quarantine going on walks/bike rides. Both boys have improved a lot on their bikes and lucky for Caroline, we have a neighbor that loaned us a fun trike for her to use. She also likes to hop on the boys' bikes whenever possible and says "I bike! I bike!" Here's Thomas trying to help her scoot.

Stopping for a little rest after a Sunday bike ride.

Caroline is obsessed with going on walks. She likes to play outside in general but usually prefers the front yard to the back so she can go on a walk down the street. She'll sometimes pick a random yard to sit in and take a 3-second rest at times and then continue on her way. She could be happy walking all day though! She already looks so much older in these recent photos than she did in the April ones. So sad and crazy that she's approaching 2!

Russell and Caroline helping Ricardo sand some benches he made for our kitchen table.

The finished product! He did a great job, with some great help and guidance from one of his residency friends.

Now the kids always want to share one bench for mealtime.

This boy keeps losing tooth after tooth!

Everyone doing their homework together one morning.

We had a rough week for eyes a few weeks ago. First, Caroline cut her eyebrow riding on a scooter. Of course, it had to happen right before I was supposed to leave to work and on a day Ricardo was actually working in the clinic. He ran home on a break really quick and helped me hold her down and glue her wound shut-this little girl is strong and it was definitely a 2 person job. Thomas was a great little assistant and Russell wanted nothing to do with it because he is terrified of blood. Luckily, she's good as new now! Babies heal so quickly.

Two days later..Thomas and Russell were looking out the window and somehow Russell hit Thomas in the eye with the corner of the window blinds, which somehow cut Thomas on the inside of his eyelid. Poor Ricardo was alone with the kids and I was working. He said at first he thought Thomas actually got cut in the eyeball itself because there was so much blood and screaming. Luckily, he is totally fine, healed up quickly, and his eye was not affected at all. I think there was definitely some divine intervention protecting this little guy's eye.

 We're excited to get to enjoy our favorite season in Yakima one more time, summer and all the amazing fruit that's grown here. We went to a upick farm a few weeks ago and have lots of other fruit picking planned for the next few weeks. It's so nice that they
are all open despite quarantine. 

Thomas definitely marches to the beat of his own drum. He is very opinionated and strong-willed. If he wants to wear a fleece lion costume in 90-degree weather, he will wear a fleece lion costume in 90-degree weather, and don't you tell him otherwise! He has been wearing this old Halloween costume at least 50% of the time for the past month just because he wants to pretend to be a lion all the time. I've been washing it like crazy because he sweats in it, it's so hot! You can see how sweaty he looks in this picture:

One of the funniest things about this is that when we run into a neighbor when he''s wearing this-and this happens a lot (many times he'll be crawling down the sidewalk "like a lion")-he'll take down the hood and tell them "It's me, Thomas!" Haha, he doesn't think anyone can recognize him in the suit. He is too much.

Ricardo is graduating in 3 days. The last days of residency definitely have not been typical due to COVID. Luckily he finished all his graduation requirements awhile ago, so it wasn't a big deal that he hasn't been in the clinic too much. But, most of the end of residency festivities had to be canceled, which has been sad. Since they weren't allowed to have an official graduation this year, we hosted an outdoor dinner/graduation in our backyard last weekend. We had a Brazilian themed dinner/BBQ and lots of fun/thoughtful speeches were made and lots of fun/thoughtful gifts were given. It definitely felt weird to be hosting a social event during pandemic times, but an outdoor dinner is pretty much the safest thing you can do these days and we all agreed it would be disappointing to do nothing and not acknowledge all the hard work these 3 guys have put in over the past few years. Here's us and the other 2 residents and their wives:

1st and 2nd year residents:

They were all on a volleyball team together last year and the 1st year residents gifted them these jerseys with nicknames. Ricardo is Pinky of course- since he broke his pinky playing on the team. 

Apparently, you can buy socks with your face on them-so they'll always have these socks to remember their friend Spencer by. 

It's been a busy but rewarding 2 years! We'll still be in Washington for another month and we are definitely feeling the nostalgia thinking about another big move. I'm grateful that I have felt so sad each time I've moved-because I know it means I've come to know and love another amazing place and even more amazing people. I think about all the times we tried to stay in Florida over the years-applying to dental school in Florida and then applying to residency in Florida, and I'm so grateful now that it didn't work out because we've been able to have so many wonderful experiences all across this great country instead! We've grown and changed in ways that I don't think we would have if we had never left. It reminds me of the Garth Brooks song "Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers." God hasn't answered many of our prayers in the way we wanted at the time, but He really does know what will be be best for each of us in the long run. I'm grateful for the ways we've been led over the years and all the amazing people we've met. I hope you will all visit us on your trips to Disney World some day! 💗